Andy Warhol's Superstar Photographer Has Died

Billy Name, the photo laureate of Andy Warhol’s Factory years, has died in New York following a prolonged illness. He was 76 years old.

Name, né William Linich Jnr, was responsible for the most iconic images of The Factory, Warhol’s silver-foiled, phantasmagoric studio, and was one of the artist’s most beloved collaborators. He leaves behind a sensational portfolio of images depicting his time with one of the most unconventional, and unforgettable, artists of the last century.

During the Sixties, The Factory was the nexus at which a new New York met, a rebellion against the snobbish and segregated city through art and Andy Warhol was its king. The most memorable pieces of the period – Brillo boxes stacked high to the ceiling, screen prints of Elvis, Elizabeth Taylor et al piled up – were created there, as well as some of its most memorable characters. As The Velvet Underground’s John Cale, a regular, remembers, “It wasn’t called the Factory for nothing... Everyday [there] was something new.”

He captured the essence of what it was like to be in Warhol’s orbit during a time in which he changed art – and, in turn, the world – forever

Under the watchful eye of Warhol, Bambi-eyed debutante Edie Sedgwick danced, Bob Dylan (it is said) fell in love with her, beautiful creatures with names like Candy Darling and Ultra Violet preened themselves, drug dealers drifted in and out, Nico sang, Salvador Dali dropped by. Lou Reed would later write “Walk On The Wild Side” as a tribute to The Factory’s Superstars, so-called for their personification of Warhol’s ideals of beauty, self-invention and celebrity. It was a strange, spectacular home for the visionaries of a lost generation, all of whom were looking for something more, the chance to render a future in their own image. And Billy Name was there – Andy’s right-hand man – to capture it all.

As self-anointed ‘foreman of The Factory’, Name was also Warhol’s in-house secretary, decorator, electrician, bouncer, archivist, muse and some-time lover. According to writer Glenn O’Brien, “He was the one Andy counted on". Indeed, he only began taking pictures after the artist handed him a Pentax Honeywell and said, “Here, Billy, you do the stills". Name would go on to take thousands of photographs, many of which still resonate today. He captured the essence of what it was like to be in Warhol’s orbit during a time in which he changed art – and, in turn, the world – forever.

Billy Name would go on to witness this new world first-hand. It is one where Warholisms such as being “famous for fifteen minutes” have become the norm, but one that many of his counterparts – Warhol included – would never fully experience. Actor Joe Dallesandro, one of the few surviving Superstars, paid tribute to his old friend on Facebook: “Billy was the one who made the silver Factory silver... Soon all of us will be gone but because of Billy most of the history is recorded on film. May his journey home be peaceful”.

One day in 1970, with no reason given, Name left The Factory in much the same way he has left us now: quietly, without a fuss, a sparkling and inimitable legacy in his wake. In a small note pinned to the darkroom he wrote, “Dear Andy, I am not here anymore, but I am fine. With love, Billy.”

Billy Name's death was confirmed by his agent and publisher Dagon James